Tuesday, July 15, 2008

there's no knitting on an airboat

It's too fast and windy.Wanna see something trippy from my trip?The everglades, as seen fromthis airboat.Yes, we saw alligators. Many and large. And a 'gator nest with a guarding mama. Our guide was an excessively sunscorched dude named Regis. He had about six teeth, an eye for finding huge cranes and water hyacinth hidden in the grasses while zipping along , and all kinds of alligator facts. Like, if you figure out the inches between an alligator's eyes and nostrils, and multiply by ten, that's the length of the beast. He knows because he's checked. With a tape measure. I asked if he was one of those guys who wrestles alligators and he answered: "Naw, I'm not crazy, I just get in the water and lay on top of them ."

Another of his talents? Pulling skid turns hovering on the water, just like they did on Gentle Ben. Or do on CSI Miami. So cool.While other 17 year olds, told that we have 6 hours to kill in Miami, whatdya wanna do might have said shopping or South Beach, this son who shares my appreciation for a good roadside attraction said, let's quick go check out the everglades. He even ate some 'gator while we sat on a dock watching some of them watch us eating them. Creepy, yes?I love a warning with good vocabulary.

I lived in Orlando in kindergarten and Tampa in gr 1-3. One of our favorite fam fun spots was the Alligator Farm. You entered thru a giant gator mouth and saw gators of all sizes. If you were lucky and arrived at lunch time, you might be allowed to help the staff throw raw chicken over the bridge to the waiting gators. My brother (prob 6 at the time) once smuggled a baby gator out to the car under his shirt because he thought it looked lonely in the tank and wanted to come home with us. It started "chirping" so Dad discovered it and turned the car around and made John take it back. I wonder if that place is still there?

Oddly, I just heard a different rule of thumb for alligator length! The number of inches from eyes to nostrils equals the number of feet of total length (so, 10 inches from eyes to nostrils means 10 feet in length).

Alligator controversy! (Although on the other hand the person who told me had never personally measured to be sure.)